Bandai DX YF-30 Chronos

[Major Focker]

-a concert that revealed that Alto is still alive post-Sayonara no Tsubasa with possible hints towards an untold story.

OT, but can you please elaborate just a little?

[Jasonc]

Is it just me or are these new fighters, and the fact that their wings and everything that makes them function as fighters placed in a very fragile position? I like the Chronos, but if this thing were to get punched, and have to roll on the floor, it's not going to transform back into fighter. I'm not big on the new transformation. Just seems more like a forced transformation, but I do love the missile/light bar looking top.

[Tochiro]

OT, but can you please elaborate just a little?

We discuss it in the latest podcast which, while finished, I havent had time to post yet. Hopefully in the next couple of days. So keep an eye on the front page!

Is it just me or are these new fighters, and the fact that their wings and everything that makes them function as fighters placed in a very fragile position? I like the Chronos, but if this thing were to get punched, and have to roll on the floor, it's not going to transform back into fighter. I'm not big on the new transformation. Just seems more like a forced transformation, but I do love the missile/light bar looking top.

I agree with you. It often seems that newer designs are the way they are merely to come up with something different. Which i can appreciate, certainly, but the fragile positions that the wings are in do detract from the visual aesthetic a little imo. Edited October 24, 2013 by Tochiro

[mechaninac]

Oh, come now... don't you know that Overtech solves all?

I do agree, though; the folded-back-from-smallish-hinges wings motif of the Frontier YF-24 derived designs would be extremely fragile in real life, and look very back heavy to boot... not that the hip hangers on the VF-14 and YF-19/VF-19s are any better with regards to fragility.

[Chronocidal]

Honestly, I'll get this just for the fighter mode, but the way this thing transforms into battroid just looks wonky. I played around in the hangar trying to figure it out, and it's a lot like the SV-51, but with a really strange waist system going on.

That, and the giant box-o-Itano on it's back has never looked anything like a good idea. I'd love to replace that box with something that looks streamlined in fighter, because the blunt back end of it just looks weird.

[VF-15 Banshee]

We discuss it in the latest podcast which, while finished, I havent had time to post yet. Hopefully in the next couple of days. So keep an eye on the front page!

Ah, I've missed the melodious sound of Renato singing random Macross Plus songs.

[wewe]

I will get this.

[David Hingtgen]

Is there a non-Alto-ish scheme in the game? Basically--I want this valk, but don't want 2 "white with black and red" Frontier-series valks in my collection. I'd like to "wait for a repaint" if there is one.

Of course, they could always just "invent" a scheme like they did for the 30th-ann Ozma-Fokker YF-29...

[VF5SS]

You can select either red, green, or blue stripes or the weird black with red stripes scheme.

[Mommar]

I could go for Blue Stripes... then again I'll take one of any Valk with blue on it.

[Scyla]

Is it just me or are these new fighters, and the fact that their wings and everything that makes them function as fighters placed in a very fragile position? I like the Chronos, but if this thing were to get punched, and have to roll on the floor, it's not going to transform back into fighter. I'm not big on the new transformation. Just seems more like a forced transformation, but I do love the missile/light bar looking top.

I think some of this design choices come from the CAD design process for new Valkyries. So no mass shifting like the wings of the VF-17. To be honest the side skirts on the YF-19/YF-21 look fragile as hell. The tail-fins on the VF-17/171 and YF-21/VF-22 where even used as shields against incoming enemy attacks.

On the other hand it would be an easy fix if the tail fins attach to the forearms (like the SV-51) or the legs or slide them into the backpack. On the VF-25 the weren't nearly as awkward looking because the fold flat to the rest of the wing assembly. This and the YF-29 just look messed up regarding the tail fins.

Overall the VF-1 did the best job of hiding the wing section with the tail-fins folded up against the inside (!!!) of the backpack and the wings somewhat slit up into the rear fuselage (again some anime magic involved) so that the back of Battroid-Mode resembles the shape of the front.

Then again a fighter jet very fragile not sure this will change just because it can transform into a mech.

[charger69]

A bit clearer

Transformation sequence is really interesting: Nose cone is facing back and cockpit stays almost horizontal on battroid mode...

Edited October 24, 2013 by charger69

[VF-15 Banshee]

Also, the fifth paint scheme unlocked after a complete play through is red and black.

[mechaninac]

wonky battroid or not, that fighter looks way too badass to pass up... kind of like the VF-4 in that regard.

[charger69]

Also, the fifth paint scheme unlocked after a complete play through is red and black.

Screenshot please

[Scyla]

It is very cool looking just not from the side or the back.....

I can deal with that. Hope that the missile pod opens to reveal the missiles inside but after the disappointment that where the VF-171 Armor Parts if thin that this is a pipe dream as well as switchable modules for the missile pod.

The pod itself looks small so it might not droop backwards but I fear that the hinges for the connection strut might be two week (i.e. wear down) to hold it in that position. Hopefully there will be some support piece that locks it into the upward position. If the missile pod itself doesn't have any gimmicks then it might be light enough to hold its position.

I don't like that you can see the cockpit from the side but maybe the add some a canopy cover like they did on the Renewal VF-25s. I assume that the gun-pod can slide into a slot in the missile pod. I think you can see two indents in the shot from below.

[anime52k8]

Maybe I'm just seeing things, but I think I see hard points on the arms. BTW, I think the gunpod looks identical to the one on the YF-29. can you swap that gunpod with the VF-25's gunpod and vice versa?

[mechaninac]

You'd think that with those massive wings flipped back, angel like, they'd be able to fold in such a way as to block the cockpit from view from the side; Kawamori's, not Bandai's, fault, however. Another thing I'd like to see is functional wing hard points to share ordnance with the VF-171; heck, I wish Bandai and Arcadia would integrate hard points by default.

[Scyla]

I think both gun-pods from the VF-25 and YF-29 have the same handle but I'm nor sure.

Now I'm seeing the hard points too.

[Scream Man]

isn't that just where the arms clip in for Fighter mode? I mean we're seeing the toy design, and i see those bits u mean, but if I understand the Transformation properly, those sides of the arms are flush into the back plate. I'm guessing those clip parts are there to attach the arms into place.

Edited October 24, 2013 by Scream Man

[Astro_BS-AS]

OH MY GOD SO EXCITED!!!

That is all.

I´d buy a Twilight Sparkle paint scheme more than once....

/

Quite a nice Valk... The wing could fold on itself a bit more, kind of what the wings on the VF-27 Lucifer does... But it´s an amazing plane.

I´m afraid of the "missile pod" hinges dropping down in no time... And they have to open up... they should, at least.

Edited October 24, 2013 by Astro_BS-AS

[nexxstrait]

Am I the only one who hates how the wings fold in battroid on the last few VFs (25-27-29 &30)?

Edited October 24, 2013 by nexxstrait

[raptormesh]

Am I the only one who hates how the wings fold in battroid on the last few VFs (25-27-29 &30)?

Nope, I don't like them as well. They were supposed to represent the wings of an angel or something, but all i see is are fairy analogues.

[close313]

As you may be able to tell, I'm frikkin excited for this valk. I am always obsessed on knowing how things transform.Since the lego video(that I have seen) didnt not show this part, I drew up the fuselage transformation by studying the pics. Just a rough drawing + some hard imagination. It's for fun so don't judge me on this . Or if anyone else have a better clue on how it does it, please satisfy my curiosity. No it won't kill the cat. I just realised that the longer LERX part shouldnt be sharp as it is just broken off the shorter LERX, with the same thickness. so it's one continuous piece.

PS: I'm not a cat person

Edited October 24, 2013 by close313

[charger69]

Then are you personally a cat?

[VF5SS]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suCsM0t3jYE

This is how it transforms.

[raptormesh]

Would rather a variant where the multimission appendage is a big honkin cannon instead of a missile box.

[numagus99]

Would rather a variant where the multimission appendage is a big honkin cannon instead of a missile box.

That is what Shapeways is for.

[Mommar]

Your transformation idea looks about right, maybe a few of the actual details will be slightly different in practice, but I think you ballparked it well. The only issue is that the chest/body of the battroid lines up with that forward half. The whole back half of the cockpit and the nose cone jam out the back. Would have been better if the nose cone folded underneath the cockpit facing downward instead... kind of in an inverted VF-4 style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suCsM0t3jYE

This is how it transforms.

The video completely skips over that part. Though on the lego model it looks like the back plate sits at an angle, has no gap in the back, and completely covers the cockpit/nose cone from the back. Maybe not the nose cone. Dunno. That CAD isn't very flattering to Battroid mode while the game footage of it looks perfectly good.

Edited October 24, 2013 by Mommar

[close313]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suCsM0t3jYE

This is how it transforms.

I'm trying to imagine what happened to the part between 1:39 - 1:40 which they never showed

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

Then are you personally a cat?

lol, i was going to ask saitosad the same thing a while back. nice graph.

[raptormesh]

So much so that the pilot could actually see out his or her side though the canopy in battroid mode. Quite...exotic.

[YF-29 Durandal]

Would rather a variant where the multimission appendage is a big honkin cannon instead of a missile box.

The missile box should have more missiles. I could easily redesign the current one so that it could fit 25 missiles instead of the 18 that it has now.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

the missile box looks like the overhead lights of a baseball stadium

[Benbot]

Ok, I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't like the insect-like wing backpack. These designs are too...I'm not sure how to put it. Complicated? Oftentimes less is more. I think the YF-19 gets it right, but this thing is a mess in the back.